Trinity Topics

The Newsletter of Trinity Episcopal Church in Toledo, Ohio

APRIL 2010

Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples
dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord.
(John 21:12)
 liturgy & events Canterbury Choir
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Good Friday, April 2 7p

A community walk with Christ on the Via Dolorosa

(Way of Sorrows) combining scripture, music and
ritual in a solemn remembrance of this most holy of
days.

Free Admission

Perrysburg Symphony Chorale

JOHANNES PASSION
Friday, April 23 7p

J.S. Bach: St. John Passion

Of the five passion works written by Bach, only two

survive. This version has been described as extravagant,
unbridled, and unrefined—Bach at the height of his own
musical passion.
Tickets: $10 / $8

SATURDAY, APRIL 3 — EASTER VIGIL SUNDAY, APRIL 18 — 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER

Luke 24:1-12 Acts 9:1-6 (7-20); Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19
7p Parish Eucharist 9:30a Children’s Formation
10a Parish Eucharist
SUNDAY, APRIL 4 — EASTER
Acts 10:34-43; 1 Cor 15:19-26; John 20:1-18 SUNDAY, APRIL 25 — 4TH SUNDAY OF EASTER
10a Parish Eucharist Acts 9:36-43; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30
9:30a Children’s Formation
SUNDAY, APRIL 11 — 2ND SUNDAY OF EASTER 10a Parish Eucharist
Acts 5:27-32; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31
9:30a Children’s Formation SUNDAY, MAY 2 — 5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER
10a Parish Eucharist Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35
9:30a Children’s Formation
10a Parish Eucharist

Perhaps it’s only fitting that it’s hollow inside.

Candy tastes great. But it can leave you feeling empty if it’s the only way
you celebrate Easter.
Join us in celebrating the miracle of Christ's resurrection.
You'll feed your soul, not just your sweet tooth.

Easter Vigil Saturday, April 3 7:00pm

Easter Day Sunday, April 4 10:00am

22

The Dogs of Resurrection
I will leave it to others to write about the
loftier aspects of Easter life this time around.
For now, I will study the resurrection from
two feet off of the ground, through the eyes
of June and Emma.
As many of you know, Barbara and I
have two Norwegian Elkhounds. We
adopted the second one, Emma, right after
Thanksgiving. Like June, Emma was a baby
mama for a puppy mill. She was probably
crated all of the time and definitely abused,
yet she is still as sweet a soul as ever existed
in dogdom. (And yes, despite many hours of
systematic theology classes, I will always
believe animals have souls.) This was the
only life she knew until six weeks before we
got her. It was not a good life, but it was
familiar, and somehow she acquired the skill
set to survive it.
She has a new life now, with constant
food, water, lots of toys, two humans who
from the rector
love her, upstanding doggy neighbors and big sis
June who tries to teach her how to be a happy dog.
However, she is still scared.
I disagree with the Dog Whisperer, as this dog
most definitely is not living in the moment all of the
time. Sometimes when one of us gets too close to
Emma‘s head too quickly, she will snap. A stern
corrective word will send her slinking to the base-
ment. She is finally letting us scratch her tummy,
but still has fear and uncertainty in her eyes. She‘s
sweet, energetic, and loving, but she has a long way
to go to trust her new life.
Sound like any humans you know? Emma‘s
taught me a lot about myself. Do I trust in and live
out of new life? Do I, in the words of Wendell Berry,
practice resurrection? Living out of the new life of
grace freely given takes practice. It is hard to trust
new life when we still have the survival skills for the
old ones. Habits of the heart are the hardest to break,
and we don‘t recognize the need to break them until
a new way or a new challenge is presented.
For us, the challenge of Easter is trusting that
new life is possible in each of us when spiritual
death seems certain. God‘s love and grace for all of
us is certain and instant. Our responding to it and
trusting it takes longer, and sometimes we still snap when
God gets too close. Such habits may have saved our
physical lives in the bad old days, but we need to allow
ourselves to be more vulnerable to God and each other to
live the full and rich life that God has given us in Christ.
So I walk out to the backyard for yet another lesson.
June, our older, wiser Elkhound and resident ‗priest
whisperer‘, has been sleeping near the garage in the
afternoon sun. She looks me in the eye, rolls over and bares
her tummy. ―I adore you,‖ she says with her eyes, ―now be
still, stay, and scratch my belly.‖
I can‘t help smiling. It works every time.
Liddy
3
 congregation/world Vestry Meeting Minutes
The March 26, 2010 meeting opened with
centering prayer. Minutes of the last meeting
were approved.
The latest finance report was reviewed.
Those who have not returned pledge cards
for 2010 will be contacted by Cathy Johns.
Topics discussed:
 Vestry involvement in programs and
worship
 Holy Week schedule
 Report on our website was shared by
Jason Rahe; the site is seeing activity.
 Bishop Williams will visit Trinity on
May 9.
 Buildings & Grounds reported that
lights in the cloister have been
changed.
The next scheduled meeting of the vestry
is Friday, April 16, at 5:45pm in the Wal-
bridge Room. All interested parishioners are
invited to attend. Members of the congrega-
tion are also encouraged to share comments
and concerns with vestry members.
Birthday Blessings
April 1 ............ ... ....... Virginia Salander
April 4 ............ ... ....... Cathy Johns
April 8 ............ ... ....... Madeline Rick
April 9 ............ ... ....... Mark Hollingsworth
........................ .......... Karen Landis
April 10 .......... ... ....... David Nelson
April 15 .......... .... ...... Douglas Rahe
April 16 .......... ... ....... Simon Palmer
April 19 .......... ... ....... Theodore Rick
April 21 .......... .... ...... Elizabeth Lowrey
........................ .......... Martha Young
April 23 .......... ... ....... Jane Bueche
April 26 .......... ... ....... Jill Snyder
April 27 .......... .... ...... John Abood
April 29 .......... .... ...... Derick Oyler, Jr.
April 30 .......... .... ...... Nancy Hinds
........................ .......... Beth Oyler
NOTE
The Trinity office will be closed the week after Easter
(April 5-9). But AA will meet as usual, and Next to New
and My Brother’s Place will be open their normal hours.
4
Community Care
We say we're a
faith community…
now we need to help
each other out!
Needs in our com-
munity can arise very
quickly, and we want
hands and hearts ready to respond. If you can cook
(or even order out), call, or drive, we could use your
help.
Callers: Check in with people, find out their needs
Cooks: Prepare or buy a simple meal
Drivers: Deliver food from source to recipient
Talk to vestry members Solveig Barnes, Peggy
Heider or Karen Wabeke if you can help with this
important ministry.
Keeping in Touch via Email
We often use email to notify the
community of upcoming events, last-
minute needs, and critical member
matters.
Be sure we have your current email
address so you don‘t miss a thing. If
you haven‘t gotten any email from us
in a while, drop us a note (trinity@trinitytoledo.org)
so we can update our records and stay in touch.
Spong at Trinity Cathedral
Bishop John Shelby Spong, an author and incisive
critic of Christian tradition and practice, will speak at
Cleveland‘s Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on April 21
at 7:30 pm. Spong‘s free public lecture is titled ―Why
I, A Citizen of the 21st Century, Believe in Life
Beyond Death.‖
Spong, whose books have sold over a million
copies, led the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24
years before his retirement in 2001. In his latest book,
Eternal Life: A New Vision, he goes beyond religion to
an understanding that the fully realized human life
empties into and participates in the eternity of God.
Visit www.trinitycleveland.org or call 216-771-
3630 for more information.
 Episcopal Celebration at Kenyon
The Ohio Episcopal Celebration at Kenyon
(OECAK) is an intergenerational conference jointly
hosted by the dioceses of Ohio and Southern Ohio,
with support from Bexley Hall Seminary. The 2010
Celebration will take place Thurs-
day evening, June 24 through Sun-
day, June 27 on the campus of Ken-
yon College in Gambier (northeast
of Columbus). The conference
theme is ―Power and Truth: Great
Moments in the History of God's
People.‖ The keynote speaker is
Walter Brueggemann, the noted Hebrew Scriptures
scholar and author of over seventy books.
Budget Update
Because we had some cash carried over from 2009,
we‘ve been able to use less than the budgeted amount
of investment income so far this year. We are already
behind in pledge payments, making it harder for us to
absorb higher-than-expected Buildings & Grounds
expenses (this month, snow removal costs).
We continue to need you to keep current on your
pledge payments!
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Bueche
Parish Accountant

See www.episcopalcelebration.diosohio.org for

more information and registration materials.
The financial health of our community is a shared
responsibility, and we welcome your questions or
Bishop Williams Visits May 9 comments. Contact Jane Bueche, Parish Accountant, at
jane@epworth.com.
Assisting Bishop Arthur Williams will visit Trinity
on Sunday, May 9. If you‘re interested in reaffirming
your baptismal vows during the bishop's visit (this is Feb. Feb.
YTD YTD
the laying on of hands to acknowledge a deepening of Budget Actual Difference
2010 Budget
faith in the life of someone who is already confirmed),
talk with Liddy this month. Revenue
Plate Offering 417 174 (243)

MEMBER MATTERS Pledge Payments 24,381 15,775 (8,606)

Andy & Jen Stepnick welcomed their daughter Combined Investment

Eleanora into the world on March 26. Income 38,334 30,900 (7,434)
Gordon McIntosh is now receiving care at ProMedica’s
Ebeid Hospice Residence. Other Operating Income 167 1 (165)
Susan Lowrey has started a 6-week course of preventa-
tive radiation treatments. Her March surgery showed no
Total Revenues 63,298 46,850 (16,448)
evidence of cancer.

Expenditures
Presiding Bishop to Speak at Personnel 33,454 34,523 1,070

2011 Winter Convocation Buildings & Grounds 30,584 37,493 6,909

Operations 3,892 4,676 784

Add this to your smartphone or day planner now:
our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Diocesan Assessment 6,712 7,100 388
Schori, will be the lead speaker at next year‘s diocesan
Local Outreach 770 1,437 667
Winter Convocation, scheduled for Friday evening,
Feb. 11 and Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011 at the Holiday Inn Programs 4,563 1,726 (2,837)
French Quarter in Perrysburg. The annual winter con- Loan Interest Payment 1,667 1,389 (277)
vocation draws Episcopalians from across our diocese
for worship, workshops and fellowship. Watch for
more information about this event in Topics and on Total Expenditures 81,641 88,344 6,703
the diocesan website (www.dohio.org) near the end of
the year. Net Surplus/(Deficit) (18,343) (41,494) (23,151)

5
 Spring Cleaning
Started Yet?
Next to New can use
the stuff you don't want
any more.
We REALLY need spring and
summer clothing, both men's and
women's, in good condition.
End of Season Sale
April 1st—15th
Thur, Apr. 1: All clothes half price
Mon, Apr. 5: All clothes $1.50 each
Thur, Apr.8: All clothes $1.00 each
Mon, Apr.12: Clothing $2 per bag
Thur, Apr. 15: Clothing $1 per bag
All our profits go to help folks
in our city who need a hand.
(See back cover, lower right corner.)
Next to New
Monday/Thursday, 9:30-3:00
Recycle + Refashion + Regift
REJOICE
6
Got More Bags?
Food for Thought has found a way to recycle
plastic grocery bags while creating something useful,
and they need your bags.
They‘ve started transforming plastic shopping
bags into ―bag-mats,‖ lightweight
water-resistant sleeping mats for
the unhoused people they meet
and serve. These bag-mats are
T
being trialed right now, to see if they FF
are functional and suitable. As an
alternative, the bags may be used to
make… reusable shopping bags!
So gather up your shopping bags (and the bright
orange, blue and yellow Blade and Free Press bags)
and put them in the collection container in the Living
Room. But note these requests:
 Make sure all bags are clean, empty, dry and
odor-free.
 Make sure the bags don‘t have large holes in
them.
Emanuel Children’s Home Update
Four infants were welcomed to the new nursery
at Emanuel Children's Home in early February. They
are doing well, gaining weight, and enjoying all the
love and attention that babies should have. Please pray
for these four precious additions to the Emanuel fam-
ily, and for the orphanage as it works to meet their
needs. They are dearly wanted and well cared for.
The nursery at Emanuel Children‘s Home was
built with financial support from Trinity. In order to
care for infants, the Children‘s Home needs multiple
sponsors for each baby, people who are willing to
pledge towards their continued support. A suggested
donation is $45 per month so
that the additional expenses of
immunizations, formula, dia-
pers, and additional staff can
be met. If you can, consider
becoming an infant sponsor
at $45 a month or a child
sponsor at $25 a month.
For more details, contact
Lucia Cooper.
 outreachings
Dental Care for Stewart Students
During April and May we‘ll be collecting funds to
allow us to buy a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste
for each student at Stewart Academy for Girls. We buy
these in bulk from a dentist so
that each student receives
comparable items.

If you would like to contrib-

ute, the suggested amount is
$5, but any donation is wel-
come. Please place your gift in one of the special enve-
lopes on the curved wall. The students will receive the
toothbrushes and toothpaste to take home with them
at the end of the school year.
Sharing Personal Ministries
Are you involved in a volunteer ministry (not a
paid position) in the Toledo metro area that‘s organ-
ized or sponsored by a group other than Trinity? If
so, we‘d like to know about it.
There may be people in the Trinity community
who‘d love to know more about an organization you
serve, or who may share your passion but be un-
aware of local ways to get involved.
Help us get even more engaged in the life of our
city and pursue personal ministries, two elements of
our mission statement. Take a few minutes to provide
your information to Susan Lowrey, our Associate for
Community Life. We‘ll figure out a way to share the
ministry connections within our community, and
then watch what blossoms as a result.
"The resurrection
places Jesus on this
side of the grave—
here and now—in the
midst of this life. He is
not standing on the
shore of eternity
beckoning us to join him there. He is standing beside
us, strengthening us in this life. The good news of the
resurrection is not that we shall die and go home
with him, but that he has risen and comes home with
us, bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick,
prisoner brothers with him."
Clarence Jordan
HOW CAN YOU WORSHIP
A HOMELESS MAN ON SUNDAY AND
IGNORE ONE ON MONDAY?
Uncertain Future for
Stewart Academy
The Toledo Public School board is consid-
ering consolidating the 230-student Stewart
Academy for Girls with the 147-student
Lincoln Academy for Boys in the 2010-11 school year.
We have received a letter from Principal William
Keaton and Assistant Principal Suzanne Muggy,
stating that the staff, administration, students and
parents are very concerned about this possibility and
strongly oppose consolidation. They have asked us
to write to the Toledo Board of Education to express
our serious concerns about this suggestion, and
emphasizing the great progress the girls have made
in their academic work since Stewart became a single-
gender school.
As Partners of Stewart for the past decade, we
have seen and experienced the significant progress
that has been made. For example, in 2002, the year
before Stewart became all-girls, 15 percent of sixth
graders there passed the state reading test. Last year,
96 percent passed.
The Outreach Committee has sent a letter on
behalf of Trinity to Robert Vasquez, Toledo Board of
Education president, stating our support for Stewart
Academy remaining an all-girls school.

7
 Developing Small Group Prayers
As we continue in the Natural Church Development For example, here‘s a
process, it‘s vital that we continually invite the Spirit to choir‘s prayer:
be an integral part of our journey. Prayer is central to Loving God, open our
our effort; we will not succeed without God‘s help. minds to your creative
Prayer will open us to all that God is calling our com- Spirit. Help us to find and
munity to do, is waiting for us to do. use the gifts you’ve given
us, and grant that what we
In the next phase of nurturing our passionate sing with our lips, we may believe in our hearts and show in
spirituality, each small group in the Trinity community our lives. Amen.
(Vestry, choir, Finance Committee and many more) is
being asked to develop a short prayer for itself, specific Each small group will be contacted by a member of
to its ministry. The group and its members will then be the Church Health Team to answer any questions about
asked to pray its prayer each time it gathers/ministers. this project. Every group is asked to provide a copy of
If a group doesn‘t meet together to do its ministry (like its prayer to Mike Lowrey, chair of the Church Health
the Bread Guild), members of that group should pray Team, by Mother‘s Day, May 9. The collected prayers
the prayer individually every time they minister. will be shared with the community on Pentecost.

Trinity’s NCD Prayer

Merciful Creator, we invite you to be with us here and now. As we embrace
Natural Church Development, keep us mindful of our purpose in this work –
to empower your people, grow and strengthen your church, and glorify your
name. Fill us with your Spirit of Wisdom and Truth as we humbly examine
ourselves and our community. Help us to embrace new opportunities for
growth and improvement. Renew our energy, guide our work, and lead us to
new life in you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Trinity Website Offers Spirituality Resources

Trinity‘s website includes a number of offerings to enhance or impassion your spirituality.
If you click on ―Spiritual Resources‖ at the top of our home page, it will link you to a
wealth of possibilities for exploration and growth.

Some of what you‘ll find there:

 Daily devotions and meditational readings—Forward Day by Day online, Signposts
(from explorefaith.org), offerings from Barbara Crafton and others
 Prayers—the Daily Office from the Book of Common Prayer and daily prayers to
download to your MP3 player
 Episcopal Café—a collection of blogs, news, reflections, book excerpts, meditations
and artwork designed for Episcopalians and those interested in our church to read, watch,
listen and reflect upon contemporary life in a context informed by faith
 Meditations of all sorts—music, poetry, journaling resources, art and video offerings.

Spend some time exploring at www.trinitytoledo.org/links-main.html and find the re-

sources that will spark your next conversation with God.

8
An excerpt from Practicing Resurrection
by Nora Gallagher
At the end of John‘s gospel, there is a small resur-
rection appearance, hardly worth a mention against
the others, no locked doors, no vanishing acts. Peter
and his crew are out fishing --it‘s after
Jesus has died and one imagines them
sorrowful, empty. They‘ve caught
nothing. And then a man from shore
yells out to them to cast their nets on
the other side of the boat. Dubious--
they‘ve tried this-- they try it again and
catch so many fish their nets begin to
break. Peter recognizes his lord, jumps
into the water and swims to him. And
when he gets there, Jesus is cooking fish on the beach.
I thought of Jesus the Sunday I served the bread. I
thought of him as the man who calls out to us from the
shore, the man who cooks breakfast after a long night
of work. After his death he is a more humble man; he
doesn‘t heal, he has no dark fantasies of the end of the
world, he does not proclaim himself either the son of
man or as much of anything else. The gist of what he
says is mild and low: love one another, forgive each
other, feed each other.
Faith is only an approximation, as is
memory; one never knows if one has
the real thing in one‘s grasp. It‘s al-
ways only a reaching towards, but the
day when I served the bread at Com-
munion I thought that I knew some-
thing of the man Jesus by handing out
his body, that he was much lower
than I had thought before, much
sweeter. He was like the movement of
a crane‘s wing, or a brother‘s habit of saying, ―baby
sister,‖ or a woman suffering from clinical depression
who is brave enough to want to live valorously. He
was like all of these things, these movements, tied to-
gether, or he was the thing that tied them together.
Maybe this was what was meant by communion, that
he was still at it, helping us along, calling to us from
shore. And we are meant to respond, to jump into the
water, to swim toward him and toward each other.

God Moment
Where have I seen God lately? It was six months ago, at the rehabilitation center in
which my father was residing following a serious illness. We experienced an unfortu-
nate situation with the care my father was receiving, so I had chosen to be at his bed-
side 24/7 throughout that weekend, until I felt comfortable with his care again.

Most would have believed that it was the illness itself acting out upon him falling asleep.
The room was softly lit by a grated, recessed, floor light. Suddenly, dad sat straight up
in bed, calling for his mother, sister and niece (all of whom are deceased), and reaching
out in the direction of the light reflecting off the adjacent wall.

Startled by his sudden movement and words, I sat up in the chair in which I myself had been asleep, to watch
what was about to happen. Dad took hold of my hand and asked me, ―Are you going to go, too?‖ I responded to
him by asking, ―Where are we going, dad?‖ Looking straight into my eyes, he calmly answered, ―To see the
Lord.‖ I lowered my head, took hold of his hand and said ―No, not now, dad. But if you need to go, do what is
best for you.‖

Following that experience, I did not stay by his bedside as first anticipated. He had the Lord himself there by him.
Two weeks later, dad took his journey.
~Brenda Armitage

Got a God moment?

Has there been a time recently when you noticed the presence of God in your life? If you’re willing to share a brief ―God
moment‖ with the Trinity community, you’re invited to submit several paragraphs (no more than half a page, up to 300 words,
subject to editing for clarity) to Topics@trinitytoledo.org.

9
 Book Review
JESUS FREAK
Feeding - Healing - Raising the Dead
by Sara Miles

Sara Miles is the founder and director of The Food Pantry, and serves as Director of Ministry
at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. She is the author of Take This Bread: A
Radical Conversion. Here she explores what it means to her that Jesus has given us all the
challenge of "being Jesus." He gives us the power and presence to feed the hungry, to heal the
sick, to forgive sins, and to raise the dead. Just as the disciples were astonished by this grace, so
are modern day Christians. It is far easier to relax with our beliefs in Jesus than to be Jesus to
our family, friends, co-workers, and strangers.

It is at the pantry at St. Gregory where Miles discovered that ordinary people can do Jesus' work. She shares stories
from her experiences with Chinese grandmothers, heroin addicts, drunkards, and homeless families. The author and those
who work with her dispense food to 800 people every Friday. Nirmala, a Chilean woman tells Miles: "It's an ashram here,
honey. This isn't just a food place. It's a spiritual place. The pantry is spiritual nourishment — there's a lot of karma you can
work out with people here. We're all so different, but we elevate ourselves a bit here, spiritually, by being with each other."

Healing is another work Jesus gave his followers, and the author talks about the difference between this and curing.
Healing accentuates love, presence, and faith in the mysterious activity of God. She salutes Jesus who "shows us how to
enter into a way of life in which the broken and sick pieces are held in love, and given meaning. In which strangers literally
touch each other, and doing so make a community spacious enough for everyone. In which the deepest desires of our
hearts draw us to health. Don't be afraid, Jesus says: your faith will make you well."

Miles and Paul, a close co-worker, call Jesus "the Boyfriend," a colloquial version of the ancient Christian name of
"Bridegroom." She offers commentaries on the difficulties of practicing forgiveness and raising the dead. But the Boyfriend
opens doors which even make these two challenges possible and says "just give the people something to eat, just touch
them, just say you're sorry. And our lives had changed." Miles has come up with the perfect ending for a book on service:
"Go and do likewise." Walk the talk, be Jesus (or the Boyfriend) in all your days and deeds.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

www.spiritualityandpractice.com

Bishop-elect Glasspool receives church's consent to ordination

from the Episcopal News Service

Diocese of Los Angeles Bishop-elect Mary Glass-
pool has received the required number of consents
from diocesan standing committees and bishops with
jurisdiction to her ordination and consecration as a
bishop, the Presiding Bishop's office confirmed in a
March 17 announcement.
Glasspool was elected in December 2009
at the 114th annual convention in the Diocese
of Los Angeles. In an unofficial tally, the
diocese had announced on March 10 that
Glasspool had received 61 consents, five
more than the 56 required, from the church's
diocesan standing committees. Under the
canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4), a
majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction
and diocesan standing committees must consent to a
bishop-elect's ordination as bishop within 120 days of
receiving notice of the election. [Editor’s note: Both the
Standing Committee of the Diocese of Ohio and
Bishop Mark Hollingsworth gave their consent.]
Her consecration is planned for May 15.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
will be the chief consecrator.
The daughter of a priest, Glasspool is the
second openly gay partnered priest to be
elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church.
The first was Bishop Gene Robinson of
New Hampshire, who was elected in 2003.

10
Easter 2010
The Diocese of Haiti has observed Lent in a very dif-
ferent way this year. When Bishop Duracin and I spoke
just before Ash Wednesday, we talked about how this
year would be different. He noted that the people of Haiti
would need to practice saying Alleluia, so that when
Easter came they could enter in with joy. In the midst of
grief and darkness, it can be exceedingly difficult to be-
lieve that resurrection is a possibility.
Nora Gallagher makes a similar point in her book,
"Practicing Resurrection."
We are not born with the ability to insist on resurrec-
tion everywhere we turn. It takes the discipline and repe-
tition that forms an athlete – in this case, a spiritually fit
Christian. We practice our faith because we must – it
withers and atrophies unless it's stretched. We must con-
tinue to give evidence of the faith that is within us.
Easter prods and provokes us with an immense
stretching exercise. God has renewed a life given to the
evil of this world on behalf of those with no other helper.
That earth-shattering and tomb-shattering rebirth has
planted the seeds of hope in each one of us. Yet those
seeds do not produce fruit without struggle.
The people of Haiti are finding new life in the midst of
death and struggle. As a nation and a people they have
repeatedly practiced resurrection through centuries of
slavery, oppression, invasion, corruption, and privation.
The joy of their art forms – music and painting in particu-
lar – gives evidence of the hope that is within them as a
people. They know, deep in their cultural DNA, that God
is continually bringing new life out of death. Yet each
person must discover and nurture that hope. It is made
far easier in community.
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
—Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16
The shared hope of a community is essential. Most
human beings cannot long survive the evil and death of
solitary confinement or a concentration camp. It is the
The Christian community is
meant to be a mutual hope
society, with each one offering
courage to another whose
hope has waned.
shared sense of suffering and the shared nurture of even
tiny embers of hope that offers life. The greatest cruelty of
places like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib is the removal
and destruction of such hope. The absence or disconnec-
tion from other people as sources of hope leads to suicide
and even that mysterious ailment in young children
called "failure to thrive."
The Christian community is about shared hope in
resurrection. The citation at the head of this article first
buoyed hope among a people exiled in a foreign land,
without the support of familiar leaders or places of wor-
ship. That people developed a community that could
practice its faith in a strange land, insisting that God was
present among them even in exile. Jesus insists that that
light is present even in the midst of Roman oppression,
and that he will gather a community to remember that
light and practice seeing and discovering it.
The Christian community is meant to be a mutual
hope society, with each one offering courage to another
whose hope has waned, insisting that even in the darkest
of night, new life is being prepared. That work is constant
– it will not end until the end of all things. And still the
community persists, year in and year out, in time of
earthquake and war and flood, in time of joy and new
birth and discovery. Together we can shout, "Alleluia, he
is risen! Indeed, he is risen, Alleluia!" even when some
among us are not quite so confident as others. For indeed,
the body of Christ is rising and risen when even a small
part of it can rejoice and insist that God is renewing the
face of the earth and light has dawned upon us.
Alleluia! Keep practicing that joyful shout. Someone
needs to hear its truth. Alleluia!
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
11
 The Stations of the Resurrection
The Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross; in Latin, Via Crucis) refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus,
and the devotion commemorating His suffering and death. This service developed in Jerusalem as a devotion undertaken by
those wishing to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. In time it developed into 14 stations. The Stations of the Cross is a popular
devotion practiced by many Christians, especially during Lent.

A related devotion that has developed over the past 25 years is the Stations of the Resurrection, sometimes known in
Latin as Via Lucis or Way of Light (intentionally reminiscent of Via Crucis). Also 14 stations, this practice encourages medita-
tion upon the Resurrection of Jesus and some of His post-Easter appearances and related episodes contained in the Gospels
and the Acts of the Apostles. It emphasizes Easter as a season (which lasts 50 days, 10 more than Lent), not just a day.

While there is not yet a universally-recognized list of Stations of the Resurrection, this is a typical set of the stations,
with the associated scripture passage and some contemporary images for reflection.

Stations of the Resurrection

Station i - the discovery of the empty tomb Station iv - Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene
John 20:1-10 John 20:11-18
...she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, not know that it was Jesus. Jesus
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had said to her, „Woman, why are you
been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon weeping? For whom are you look-
Peter and the other disciple, the one ing?‟ Supposing him to be the gar-
whom Jesus loved, and said to them, dener, she said to him, „Sir, if you
„They have have carried him away, tell me
taken the where you have laid him, and I will
Lord out of take him away.‟ Jesus said to her,
the tomb, „Mary!‟ She turned and said to him
and we do in Hebrew, „Rabbouni!‟…
not know
where they Station v - the denial of the resurrection
have laid Matthew 28:11-15
him.‟...
... some of the guard went into the city
Station ii - the angel speaks to the women and told the chief priests everything
Luke 24:4-8 that had happened. After the priests
had assembled with the elders, they
While they were perplexed devised a plan to give a large sum of
about this, suddenly two men money to the soldiers, telling them,
in dazzling clothes stood beside „You must say, “His disciples came by night and stole him
away while we were asleep.”‟...

them. The women were terrified Station vi - Jesus appears

and bowed their faces to the
ground, but the men said to
them, „Why do you look for the
living among the dead? He is not
here, but has risen‟…
Station iii - Jesus appears to his mother Mary
St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises, 219
After Christ expired on the Cross, and
the Body, always united with the Di-
vinity, remained separated from the
Soul, the blessed Soul, likewise united
with the Divinity, went down to Hell,
and taking from there the just souls,
and coming to the Sepulchre and be-
ing risen, He appeared to His Blessed
Mother in Body and in Soul.
on the road to Emmaus
Luke 24:13-35
...two of them were going to
a village called Emmaus,
about seven miles from Jeru-
salem, and talking with each
other about all these things that had happened. While they
were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and
went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing
him... As they came near the village to which they were go-
ing, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged
him strongly, saying, „Stay with us, because it is almost eve-
ning and the day is now nearly over.‟ So he went in to stay
with them. When he was at the table with them, he took
bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their
eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished
from their sight...

12
 around the kingdom
Station vii - Jesus appears to the disciples in Station xi - Jesus commissions the disciples
Jerusalem Matthew 28:16-20
John 20:19-21
...Jesus came and said to
When it was evening on that day, them, „All authority in
the first day of the week, and the heaven and on earth has
doors of the house where the disci- been given to me. Go there-
ples had met were locked for fear fore and make disciples of all
of the Jews, Jesus came and stood nations, baptizing them in
among them and said, „Peace be the name of the Father and
with you.‟ After he said this, he of the Son and of the Holy
showed them his hands and his Spirit, and teaching them to
side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. obey everything that I have
Jesus said to them again, „Peace be with you. As the Father commanded you. And re-
has sent me, so I send you.‟ member, I am with you always, to the end of the
age.‟
Station viii - Jesus strengthens the faith of Thomas
John 20:24-29 Station xii - Jesus appears to Paul
Acts 9:3-9
...A week later his disciples were
again in the house, and Thomas was Now as he was going along
with them. Although the doors were shut, and approaching Damascus,
Jesus came and stood among them and suddenly a light from heaven
said, „Peace be with you.‟ Then he said to flashed
Thomas, „Put your finger here and see my around him.
hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my He fell to the
side. Do not doubt but believe.‟ Thomas answered him, „My ground and heard a
Lord and my God!‟ Jesus said to him, „Have you believed voice saying to him, „Saul, Saul,
because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not why do you persecute me?‟ He
seen and yet have come to believe.‟ asked, „Who are you, Lord?‟ The
reply came, „I am Jesus, whom
Station ix - the appearance on the beach you are persecuting‟...
John 21:1-14
Station xiii - the ascension
...Just after daybreak, Jesus stood Acts 1:6-11
on the beach; but the disciples did
not know that it was Jesus. Jesus „It is not for you to know the
said to them, „Children, you have no times or periods that the Father
fish, have you?‟ They answered him, has set by his own authority. But
„No.‟ He said to them, „Cast the net you will receive power when the
to the right side of the boat, and Holy Spirit has come upon you;
you will find some.‟ So they cast it, and now they were not and you will be my witnesses in
able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That dis- Jerusalem, in all Judea and
ciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, „It is the Lord!‟... Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.‟ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was
Station x - the questions to Peter lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
John 21:15-19
Station xiv - pentecost
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Pe- Acts 2:1-11
ter, „Simon son of John, do you
love me more than these?‟ He When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together
said to him, „Yes, Lord; you know in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound
that I love you.‟ Jesus said to like the rush of a vio-
him, „Feed my lambs.‟ A second lent wind, and it filled
time he said to him, „Simon son the entire house where
of John, do you love me?‟ He said they were sitting. Di-
to him, „Yes, Lord; you know that vided tongues, as of
I love you.‟ Jesus said to him, fire, appeared among
„Tend my sheep.‟ He said to him them, and a tongue
the third time, „Simon son of John, do you love me?‟ Peter rested on each of them.
felt hurt because he said to him the third time, „Do you love All of them were filled
me?‟ And he said to him, „Lord, you know everything; you with the Holy Spirit…
know that I love you.‟ Jesus said to him, „Feed my sheep‟…

13
 We Too Can Live
by Jack Legg
―Quincy says people can‘t change.‖
The 14-year-old boy was looking at
me from the passenger seat of my car.
―Oh? Did he say that?‖ I asked.
Deon proceeded with a fascinat-
ing story about an altercation in the
classroom, an intervening teacher, and
Quincy‘s response.
―Cuss out the teacher? What for?‖
I ventured.
―She do be getting on our nerves
sometimes. Quincy wanted me to cuss
her out, but I told him I‘m not bad
anymore. If it was the same ‗me‘ from
last year, I would have.‖
―But it‘s not the same ‗you‘ as last
year?‖ I asked knowingly.
―Nope.‖
I don‘t think he noticed, but I
couldn‘t stop smiling for the rest of
our ride.
When I met him, Deon had been
on probation for two years. Not only
had the court ordered him to pay res-
titution for his crimes, they had
ordered him to meet regularly with an
adult mentor. I volunteered for the job
and we began to meet regularly to
hang out, talk about life issues, and
work on homework. We also went on
field trips together. (One night, he
assumed we were going out to dinner,
but I took him to prison and had him
temporarily locked up among the
violent offenders. He wasn‘t very
happy with me.)
I won‘t go into details about what
Deon was being charged with; that‘s
kind of between us. Suffice it to say,
he was in some serious trouble. In fact,
his probation officer told us with near
certainty that he‘d be locked up for a
while. You see, kids on probation are
14
periodically called into court. The
probation officer keeps a watchful eye
over the child‘s behavior at school and
home and reports to the judge. The
court then decides whether further ac-
tion (such as incarceration) is required.
When the day arrived, I escorted
Deon to the courthouse, picking up
his grandmother on the way. His
single working mother, who toils con-
tinually to support her family, was
unavailable to attend.
―Are you nervous?‖ I asked him.
―Yes,‖ he answered quietly. It was
the first time I‘d ever heard fear in his
voice.
After waiting several hours (and
hearing the screams and sobs of the
boy before us as he was taken into
custody), we were called into the
courtroom. Deon stood alone in the
center of the room as his charges were
read. Having nothing
to say in his own
defense, he stared at When we reduce the Resurrection
the floor. The judge to mere evidence and sheer
turned to his
grandmother and spectacle, we miss something.
asked if she had
anything to say on behalf of her
grandson. She admitted that she had
no defense to offer. As his heart sank,
so did mine. I began bracing myself
for the conversation I would have
with his mother, telling her I had left
the court room without her son.
And then came something rather
unexpected. Deon‘s grandmother
pointed at me and said I knew him
very well. Perhaps, she suggested, I
might have something to contribute. I
was on my feet in an instant. I startled
rattling off everything that had
happened in the past few months,
how we had worked to improve his
grades, how school behavior had
started to improve, and how we were
talking through a lot of issues to-
gether. When I was finished with my
well-intentioned tirade, the judge and
probation officer responded with
silence and quizzical looks. Finally
(once they realized that I was his
mentor and not a psychopath), the
judge decided to give us a chance to
prove ourselves. She temporarily sus-
pended all rulings with the
understanding that we would return
to court in one month for another
evaluation.
―Don‘t play with me,‖ said the
skeptical probation officer, ―Show me
you‘re serious, or I‘ll have no choice
but to lock you up.‖
Thirty days dashed by and we
found ourselves in the court room for
the second time. This time, I sat at the
defense table with Deon and
presented documentation that dem-
onstrated improvements in school
attendance, grades, and behavior. The
judge and the officers in the room
conferred quietly. Rulings were
suspended again and the probation
officer ushered us into his office.
―Before today‘s hearing, I wasn‘t
going to tell you about this. The
juvenile court is hosting a bowling
party next week for kids who are
modeling good behavior. Deon, I
would like for you to come.‖
I actually started checking the
room for a hidden camera thinking
perhaps that we were the victims of
some tasteless reality television show.
At his last court appearance, they had

every intention of putting this kid
behind bars; one month later, he was
going bowling with his probation
officer!...
The PO gave us
sixty days to
demonstrate continued
improvement. At that
point, the court would
reevaluate his case and
determine the next step.
We were elated as we
left the court house, but
also apprehensive of the
daunting challenge that
leered at us from the
horizon.
Those sixty days
were not easy. It seems
almost simplistic to describe the
journey as sparingly as I have so far.
There were accidents and relapses and
bouts of fatigue. We stumbled into
cleverly made traps, braved
unforeseen dangers, and tiptoed past
the enemy‘s landmines. Crucibles
exist to burn away impurities, and
while it was intense and often painful,
our sixty day crucible offered the hope
of coming out better on the other side.
When his day finally arrived,
Deon walked into the courtroom and
spoke for the first time on his own
behalf. I sat beside him in silence,
trying very hard not to explode into
tiny shards of joy and pride.
When the proceedings had
finished, the judge turned to the
probation officer and asked, ―What is
your recommendation?‖
Jesus teaches us to shake
off our chains and use
them as jump ropes.
The officer closed the file on the
table in front of him and, in a shocking
and unexpected move, he declared,
―At this point, I recommend that
Deon‘s probation be terminated.‖
―It is so ordered.‖
There was smiling and laughter.
The bailiff was shaking
our hands and patting
us on the back. Deon
proudly announced to
his grinning probation
officer that he hoped
never to see him again.
Even for the court, it
was a rare breath of
clean air, a new
beginning, a fresh start.
The debts were erased,
the chains were all
gone, and Deon had
been raised again to
new life.
You know, I was
always told that the Resurrection
served the chief purpose of proving
that Jesus was telling the truth. It was
as if the empty tomb had been
stipulated as Exhibit A in some cosmic
trial, or as undeniable proof that Jesus
had succeeded in His mission. As a
child, I would picture the Roman
soldiers shaking their heads in
surprise as Jesus leapt from behind the
stone shouting, ―See! Told you I‘d
come back!‖
―Okay, ye of little faith. Pay up,‖ the
disciples would say, poking Thomas in
the ribs as they collected on their bet.
Or maybe the Resurrection was
just a platform for God to show off His
super powers. Maybe Jesus was sim-
ply flexing His divine muscles in
order to astonish humans into
following Him.
―Ladies and gentlemen of the
garden tomb, direct your attention to
the center ring. Watch as the angel
whips away the blanket. Poof! He‘s
gone! But wait! Look, there, in the
mezzanine!‖
Suddenly, Jesus appears in a
tuxedo and declares, ―Now, for my
next trick…‖
around the kingdom
Does the Resurrection
prove that Jesus was speak-
ing the truth? Yes, it does. Is
the Resurrection a
manifestation of God‘s awe-
some power? Yes, it is. But
when we reduce the
Resurrection to mere evi-
dence and sheer spectacle, I
think we miss something.
The hope of the
Resurrection does not rest in
the promise of eventual es-
cape to heaven. The Res-
urrection shows us that Jesus
has broken into this world,
crippling the powers of
darkness and making it
possible for us to live, yes
live, as unshackled citizens of
His Kingdom. Jesus doesn‘t
merely make bad people
good. He doesn‘t merely
make sick people well. He
raises the dead to life. He is
outrageous and inventive,
subversive and ingenious,
wild and creative. He
liberates us from the powers
of darkness and calls us into
marvelous light. He raids our
hospitals, turning bedpans into
flowerpots and syringes into knitting
needles. He converts our wheelchairs
into go-carts and our sick-beds into
trampolines. He trades our handcuffs
for bracelets and paints frescoes on
our bodies with prison tattoos. He
teaches us to shake off our chains and
use them as jump ropes. He springs
kids out of jail and sends them
partying with their probation officers.
The Resurrection reminds us it is here,
it has started, it is always but coming.
Our groaning creation can begin to
laugh again. Jesus lives, and so can
we, and it begins right now.
Jack Legg is a member of The Mul-
berry House, a Christian intentional
living community in Springfield, OH.
From Issue 1 of Conspire!
(www.conspiremagazine.com)
15
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